1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
123 
21 bushels of seed as early as possible. No crop 
needs a more frequent change of seed than oats if 
heavy grain is desired. New seed should be 
brought from a cold climate ; that from Canada, 
New Brunswick, or Scotland, is to be preferred. 
Fbddei' Crops. —Barley and vetches, or oats and 
peas, may be sown in succession every 10 or 14 days 
up to May, for cutting green. For the dairy there 
are no more valuable crops ; 2i bushels of barley or 
oats, and 11 of vetches or peas, may be sown with 
the drill or plowed in with a three-inch furrow. It 
is difficult to cover peas with the harrow. If al¬ 
lowed to ripen, the cured straw and grain makes 
excellent winter feed, when cut into chaff, for 
horses, cows, sheep, or hogs. 
Harrowing Winter Wheat. —There is no harrow so 
well adapted to this useful work as the Thomas 
harrow. The wheat is greatly benefitted, and the 
grass and clover-seed sown is more likely to catch. 
Artificial Fertilizers. —We must use more artificial 
fertilizers, or farming cannot pay as it ought to do. 
As farms become worth more, more working capi¬ 
tal is required, and the chief need of this is to pro¬ 
vide good fertilizers. The value of fertilizers is 
now well understood. They must be applied early 
and with the seed. For barley, oats, clover, and 
grass, apply 150 lbs. of superphosphate of lime, 
and 100 of nitrate of soda, per acre. Sow them, 
finely powdered, broadcast—half each way, to get 
an even spread—as soon as the seed is covered. 
The first rain will carry them into the soil. Let 
those who doubt, experiment upon one acre. 
Plaster. —Sow one bushel per acre upon young 
clover or oats, as soon as the growth is started. 
Seymour’s broadcast sower, costing about $70, will 
sow a bushel or less upon an acre with perfect reg¬ 
ularity ; it also sows all other fine fertilizers broad¬ 
cast. It always pays to use plaster at $10 a ton, 
or 40 cents a bushel. 
Pastures. —Harrow old pastures with a sharp- 
toothed, heavy harrow, scatter some fresh seed and 
200 lbs. of fine bone-flour per acre over them, or give 
them a dressing of fine, well-rotted yard manure. 
A few bushels of lime and one of salt will be useful. 
Fbtatoes. —Early potatoes should be planted as 
soon as the oats and barley are in. Cover not less 
than 4 inches deep, and harrow the ground as soon 
as the smallest weed appears. Harrow again, if the 
Thomas harrow is used, after they are up ; the 
plants will not be torn up or injured. Look out for 
the Colorado potato beetle ; hand-pick unless they 
are in too great force ; as a last resort, dust Paris 
green mixed with 20 parts of flour from a flour 
dredger upon the vines, keeping the wind always to 
the back so as to blow the dust from you ; or a 
table-spoonful stirred in a pailful of water, applied 
with a sprinkler. Take them as soon as the first 
one is seen, and give them no chance to multiply. 
Live Stock. —When hurried 'with work, don’t for¬ 
get the stock. For lice apply linseed oil and the 
curry-comb or card. See hints for previous months. 
Horses should be worked moderately at first. If 
the shoulders are inclined to chafe, bathe them 
with salt and water, wash off the salt, rub dry and 
apply crude petroleum. This is a healing applica¬ 
tion for galls or bruises. Wash the feet and legs 
when muddy, and wipe dry. Give some bran or 
oat meal in their drink. Give cut feed at noon, and 
long hay at night. Clean them thoroughly at 
night. This is important to their proper rest. 
Cows and Calves. —The treatment of cows must 
depend on circumstances. A cow in full flow may 
profitably get all the food she can turn into milk. 
When she is turned out to grass the feed of meal 
should not be cut off. She will take three or four 
quarts or more of mixed meal and bran in a day 
without getting fat, if she is the right sort of cow, 
and pay for it in milk with a good profit. If she is 
not the right sort, it will be best to get rid of her. 
Dairying is ncrw the most profitable business of the 
farm, and where there are cheese factories or cream¬ 
eries, the women of the household are relieved 
from much severe labor. Calves should be kept 
growing from the first. When two weeks old they 
will learn to eat a little cut hay with bran and oat¬ 
meal or oilmeal mixed. 
Sheep. —Damp yards and moist pastures are fatal 
to any flock. Dry clean yards and upland pastures 
are needed. Steaming manure about the yards is 
injurious. Ewes that are suckling lambs should be 
fed a pint of meal, grain, or bran daily. The 
lambs will be the gainers. Fresh water and salt 
should be provided daily. 
Swine. —Nothing comes amiss to pigs at this sea¬ 
son. Fine-cut clover hay or well cured com-staiks 
wetted and sprinkled with meal, will be eaten 
readily. Roots of all kinds, brewer’s grains, and 
bran with milk will make pork. But there is much 
in the breed. Choose a pure breed, whether it be 
Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, or the Poland-China, and 
now is a good time to procure a pair to commence 
with. But purity of breed will not serve as a sub¬ 
stitute for food and care. Pure bred swine will 
make more pork from the same food than any other, 
and all their progeny will be of the same character ; 
that is, all there is in “ pure blood.” 
Sundry Matters. —Do not forget the garden, let it 
be plowed or dug and plenty of manure be hauled 
for it the first thing. No part of the farm brings 
in so much money as the garden.... Provide clean 
nests for the hens, and remove all rubbish where 
they may hide tbeir nests. Keep glass or other 
nest-eggs to circumvent rats, skunks, and dogs.... 
Repair water spouts and eave troughs, and clean 
out cisterns and cesspools. Provide a heap of ab¬ 
sorbents for the kitchen slops, and make in-doors 
and out clean and sweet with lime and whitewash. 
Work in the Horticultural Departments. 
The prospects are that there will be but a slight 
interval between winter and summer, and that our 
work will come all in a heap. He is wise who, in¬ 
stead of running around to consult the oldest in¬ 
habitant as to whether such a spring was ever 
known before, uses the time in making every pos¬ 
sible preparation to facilitate spring work. It is 
fortunate that we do not endeavor to fit our notes 
to any particular locality, for though April is only 
two weeks ahead, we should be at a loss to know 
what to advise for that month. The notes for March 
were made very full in the departments of Orchard, 
Fruit-Garden, and Kitchen-Garden, and names of 
the leading varieties of trees, plants, and seeds given 
as a help to the inexperienced. Those departments 
are allowed less space now in order that we may 
do the same thing for the Flower-Garden and other 
ornamental departments. Our notes for March 
will in most places be found more useful in April 
than in the month for which they were written. 
Orchard and Nursery. 
Planting will occupy the attention of the majority 
of fruit-growers. If trees are set early while the 
buds are still dormant, the roots will suffer less 
from drying than if planted later, besides the earth 
has a chance to settle well around them. Every 
farmer or land owner or oesupier should provide 
an abundance of fruit for his family, and if he has 
the time or inclination, it will be profitable as a 
market crop. If there is a nursery in the vicinity 
it will pay to give an extra price for the privilege of 
selecting the trees as they stand. Fanners may, 
with advantage to themselves, sow and raise their 
own stocks from seed, and give the boys instruc¬ 
tions how to graft and bud each in their season. 
Orchards. —Established orchards need to have the 
fertility of the soil kept up ; give them well rotted 
manure. Wood ashes may almost always be ap¬ 
plied with advantage ; old. neglected orchards may 
be made productive if the soil is properly worked 
around the trees, dead and clinging limbs removed ; 
a dressing of lime will often work wonders. 
Grafting. —On most places are to be found trees 
bearing natural fruit, which is only suitable for 
cider; if these are sound and healthy they may be 
readily made to produce good marketable fruit by 
grafting with established varieties ; in from three 
to six years the grafts will commence to bear, which 
will be sooner than if young trees were planted. 
Drains should be provided in every orchard where 
there is not a natural drainage. See that these are 
no hollows in which water will settle after rains 
and during the winter. Underdrains should be at 
least three feet below the surface of the ground, 
and their distance apart will depend upon the char¬ 
acter of the ground. 
Cions. —Cut early this mouth, before buds have 
started, and store in sand or earth in the cellar until 
needed for use. Many nurserymen offer cions for 
sale at reasonable rates, and this puts choice varie¬ 
ties of fruit within the reach of all, as they are sent 
by mail very cheaply and with safety, and if packed 
in damp moss they will not suffer if three weeks or 
more in transit. 
Cherry and Peach-Stones which were buried in 
boxes last fall, should be sowed in nursery rows. 
Seeds of fruit and ornamental trees may now be 
planted when the frost is out of the ground. 
Insects. —Look after tent caterpillars and other 
injurious insects early ; the eggs of the caterpillar 
may be readily seen on the ends of the small twigs 
before the leaves appear ; if not taken off now they 
will cause much trouble later in the season. Bark 
scale is another very destructive insect which is 
common in some sections of the country, and can 
only be destroyed by very vigorous applications of 
whale-oil soap and other washes. 
Labels are absolutely necessary in the nursery, or 
where there is a collection of fruit. Have a supply 
always at hand. 
Fences. —In most parts of this country it is neces¬ 
sary to fence out stray cattle which will often do 
great damage to young trees. An orchard must 
have a strong fence and a good gate that cannot be 
opened by cattle. Allow no broken fence panel 
to exist even for a single night. 
Fruit Garden! 
The fruit-garden is in reality only a miniature 
orchard, though the name is frequently applied t® 
a garden where only small fruits are grown. The 
family fruit-garden usually contains apple and pear 
trees as standards, or they may be dwarfs, which 
can be trained in various ways, according to the 
taste of the amateur. With skill in pruning, a tree 
may readily be brought into a shape pleasing 
to the eye, and at the same time productive. 
Any fruit-grower, even with scanty means, can 
easily produce trees with well-shaped heads. 
Among the numerous styles in which dwarf trees are 
trained, the most common are the pyramidal and 
bush, and we sometimes see the oblique cordon 
and horizontal cordon. These are fully described 
in the standard works on fruit-culture. Often the 
kitchen garden is made to serve as a fruit and 
kitchen garden combined, this is a necessity in 
small places, where land is scarce, but it is always 
best to have the two separate if possible. 
Grapes are so easily raised that no one need be 
without them. Plants may be grown readily from, 
either cuttings or layers, or purchased very low. 
They need but little room if properly trained ; the 
yard must be very small that will not allow of sev¬ 
eral vines. If they are neglected and allowed to 
grow year after year without pruning, the result 
will prove very unsatisfactory. Only a single shoot 
should be allowed to grow from a vine planted this 
year. Fresh manure must not be used on vines, 
as it produces a too vigorous growth, and the wood 
will not ripen properly in the fall. Ground bones 
or wood ashes make the best fertilizer. Put cut¬ 
tings in the open ground six inches apart in a 
trench, leaving one bud above the surface, taking 
care to pack the earth firmly around them. 
Strawberries. —Set out plants as soon as the ground 
is in working condition. Plenty of straw or leaves 
should be at baud to mulch before dry weather 
comes. The easiest way to manage a bed is to set 
out a new one every season, and allow the runners 
to grow together, but where land is scarce it is bet¬ 
ter to plant in 3 or more rows 2 feet apart, with the 
plants one foot distant in the rows. 
Blackberries and Raspberries must be set at once. 
Blackberries should be set from 6 to 8 feet apart 
each way, according to variety, and supported by 
